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1/1/25
Johnson County Health Department urges flu vaccines to prevent dual infection
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - The Johnson County Department of Public Health is urging people to get the flu vaccine, not just to help prevent the seasonal flu, but also to prevent a potential new virus from being created.
According to the CDC, bird flu cases are now found in humans. It reports 66 human cases, including one in Iowa.
“That case was number 61 across the nation, I believe at the moment right now,” said Sam Jarvis, Community Health Division Manager with Johnson County Public Health.
Jarvis is urging more Iowans to get the flu vaccine—not because it can help prevent someone from getting bird flu, but to prevent a new virus from forming. State data shows the number of Iowans receiving the flu vaccines, particularly in young children, is down from years past, and the CDC shows a high rate of flu cases in the state.
“What we want to prevent is folks getting ill from seasonal flu and potentially bird flu at the same time,” said Jarvis.
The Johnson County Health Department released this video with Doctor Melanie Wellington, a UIHC doctor and a member of the Johnson County Board of Health. She explains how these two viruses infecting a cell could combine and form a virus we’ve never seen before.
“When new copies of the virus would be made, it would put a copy of each segment in there, but it wouldn’t pay attention to whether that segment came from the bird flu or the human flu,” said Dr. Wellington. “Just like that, a cobbled new flu virus could be cobbled together from the other two viruses, and it would be something new that nobody would know how to respond to.”
Continued: https://www.kcrg.com/2025/01/02/john...ual-infection/
1/1/25
Johnson County Health Department urges flu vaccines to prevent dual infection
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - The Johnson County Department of Public Health is urging people to get the flu vaccine, not just to help prevent the seasonal flu, but also to prevent a potential new virus from being created.
According to the CDC, bird flu cases are now found in humans. It reports 66 human cases, including one in Iowa.
“That case was number 61 across the nation, I believe at the moment right now,” said Sam Jarvis, Community Health Division Manager with Johnson County Public Health.
Jarvis is urging more Iowans to get the flu vaccine—not because it can help prevent someone from getting bird flu, but to prevent a new virus from forming. State data shows the number of Iowans receiving the flu vaccines, particularly in young children, is down from years past, and the CDC shows a high rate of flu cases in the state.
“What we want to prevent is folks getting ill from seasonal flu and potentially bird flu at the same time,” said Jarvis.
The Johnson County Health Department released this video with Doctor Melanie Wellington, a UIHC doctor and a member of the Johnson County Board of Health. She explains how these two viruses infecting a cell could combine and form a virus we’ve never seen before.
“When new copies of the virus would be made, it would put a copy of each segment in there, but it wouldn’t pay attention to whether that segment came from the bird flu or the human flu,” said Dr. Wellington. “Just like that, a cobbled new flu virus could be cobbled together from the other two viruses, and it would be something new that nobody would know how to respond to.”
Continued: https://www.kcrg.com/2025/01/02/john...ual-infection/
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